Excerpt from Memoirs of the Life of the Rev. John Williams, Missionary to Polynesia IT is with sincere satisfaction that the author is at length enabled to present to the public the following memoir. Had the long delay which has occurred in its appearance resulted from his own negligence, the pain which he has suffered in consequence would have been a severe, if not a sufficient punishment. But of such a charge he is perfectly guiltless. For his own relief, and for the success of his undertaking, he was most anxious that the volume should have been completed at a much earlier period; but as he was far more solicitous that it should not be published in an unfinished state, he was induced to await, in the first instance, the arrival of documents from the South Sea Islands, and subsequently, the return of Mrs. Williams to this country; and the issue has satisfied him, that in resisting the strong temptation to go to press, he did well. Thus he has been enabled to enrich some parts of his volume, to complete others, and accurately to trace his admirable friend through almost every interesting scene of his diversified and instructive history. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1843.

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This is the strange and wondrous story of an eight-year voyage and a mission to save souls. Their mission started in the South Seas, where they reported scenes of chiefs surfing, perpetual warfare and a sudden surge of Christianity. From there they went via New Zealand, Australia and its aboriginal hinterland, through 'the Orient' to India and slave-ridden Mauritius. Based on contemporary journals, mission reports, letters and illustrations, and bursting with character and anecdote. ON THE MISSIONARY TRAIL is both the enthralling narrative of the longest missionary voyage ever undertaken and a colourful, detailed, eye-opening snapshot of little-known worlds, set against the wider picture of evangelism and guilt, heroism and humanity.